How to Train Your Dragon2025
While the cast of the live action remake doesn’t really compare to the original, the story remains as good as ever and the CGI is incredible. Toothless looks exactly the same as he does in the animated films.
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Smile 22024
Smile 2 may not be quite as great as its predecessor but it is still an excellent horror film in its own right. I did not find it nearly as classically terrifying as the first film; rather it left me in a constant state of elevated panic and anxiety that has previously only been induced while watching a Safdie Brothers film or an episode of The Bear. Smile 2 leans more towards the distortion of reality and mind-bending madness. The ending is a tasty little morsel with interesting implications that leaves us wanting more and all but promises it.
Opus2025
Opus had all the ingredients to be better than it is. A great cast, well-paced, excellent direction and cinematography; but its story is pedantic and predictable.
Elio2025
Pixar never misses, however Elio feels like a good movie that could have been great.
Sinners2025
The film was excellent very much lived up to the hype. At its core its basic concept is very similar to *From Dusk Till Dawn, *but there’s much more to it than that. * Sinners *takes an all-too-familiar and heavily saturated genre and puts a unique spin on it that makes it feel extremely refreshing and original. This film has amazing cinematography, soundtrack, cast, and story etc. Despite all of this I would be hard-pressed if I did not mention the film’s glaring plot holes and inconsistencies that plague its climax. The film goes out of its way to establish a firm internal logic regarding what the vampires are and are not capable of and then proceeds to ignore nearly every one of them. It’s incredibly aggravating because this movie is otherwise a cinematic masterpiece, but it’s difficult to call it such with such blatantly obvious plot holes.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017
Yorgos Lanthimos may be one of the quickest filmmakers to establish himself in such a way that his films become instantly recognizable as his own; up there with Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Tim Burton. Similar to them all, Lanthimos is an absolute weirdo in the best way. The Killing of a Sacred Deer isn’t his best film, certainly not his least predictable, but it is deeply effective in conveying its message; and it is levied by unbelievable performances by the entire cast.
The Lobster2015
“When we turn our heads to the left it means, I love you more than anything in the world. And when we turn our heads to the right it means, watch out, we're in danger. We had to be very careful in the beginning not to mix up I love you more than anything in the world with watch out, we're in danger.” Yorgos Lanthimos continue to let his freak flag fly proudly. The Lobster is an absurdist satirical take on the pursuit of love under societal pressures, and the extremes we are willing to go to find it. It is both a deeply sad and deeply beautiful film. Poignant. 96/100.
Bring Her Back2025
I initially throughly enjoyed this film but the more I thought about it the more that began to change. It was quite predictable and the more unique and interesting elements of the film were left largely unexplained. The title gives away the entire plot.
HIM2025
Marlon Wayans gives a career-best performance and the movie is decent, but similar to The Substance the film beats you over the head with what is an already fairly straightforward metaphor. The most unique and interesting elements of the movie are never really explained. Enjoyable but felt half-baked.